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Green Party backs Iran deal

The Green Party called for a halt in the flow of belligerent rhetoric against Iran and expressed hope that the deal negotiated by the U.S. and other nations in Vienna will prevent a military attack.

The Green Party opposes military action and sanctions against Iran and insists that the goal must be a peaceful and secure Middle East that’s free of all nuclear weapons, part of the effort for global nuclear disarmament.

“We’re seeing a maniacal push by Republicans and many Democrats towards a military confrontation with Iran based on a nuclear weapons threat that doesn’t exist,” said Tamar Yager, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “It’s a repeat of the kind of public deception and propaganda that the Bush-Cheney Administration used to justify an invasion of Iraq in 2003.”

Intelligence estimates and leaks from the U.S. and Israel have confirmed statements by Ali Khamenei, clerical leader of Iran, that his country has no nuclear weapons program and no plans to begin one. Iran has called for a nuclear-free Middle East, before, during, and since the Vienna deal was signed.

Green Party leaders called Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) recent declaration of non-support for the Vienna accords and current bipartisan efforts to block them evidence of the dangerous influence of AIPAC and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu over U.S. foreign policy.

Greens said that an attack on Iran by the U.S. or by Israel with U.S. support would lead to a larger regional conflict that could expand into a global crisis. Party leaders are encouraged that President Obama has abandoned his earlier belligerence in the case of Iran, but warned that the Vienna agreement is in danger of being undermined by bipartisan warhawks, including Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and other contenders for the White House, who favor a neocon policy of endless war and unilateral military action.

“The U.S. should be cultivating friendship with the Iranian people, not threatening them with a rain of destruction for nonexistent reasons. Iran’s theocratic government is oppressive but it’s not suicidal enough to launch a nuclear assault on Israel or any other nation. It’s clear that the goal of U.S. warhawks is regime change — a serious violation of international laws that the U.S. has signed,” said Bahram Zandi, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee and newly elected co-chair of the national party.

Iran has a small annual military budget (about $10 billion, 1/80 of the U.S. military budget) and a miniscule air force. Iran has the same legal right to peaceful development of nuclear power as all other signatories to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Note: While Greens recognize that the treaty guarantees this right, the party opposes nuclear power.) Unlike Iran, Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal and remains the only nation in the Middle East not to have signed the treaty (http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/mewmdfz).

The Green Party has consistently supported peaceful diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts in the Middle East and western Asia and asserts that nonviolence and the right of all people to enjoy human rights, security, and self-determination must be the foundation for foreign policy.

Greens said that recent U.S. military ventures (especially in Iraq and Libya), aid for dictatorial regimes (e.g., Saudi Arabia and pre-revolution Egypt), support for Israel’s violent suppression of Palestinian rights, and quest for political hegemony and control over oil resources in these regions have only aggravated tensions and led to blowback like the emergence of the Islamic State.